Monthly Archives: May 2016

May in Review

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May did not bring the expected income boast that we were counting on but it did teach us a valuable lesson to not count on things but on God. We are continuing to move along and have now put in place some money saving belt tightening measure that hopefully will keep us on steady ground for the summer. The lost of our stand up freezer which contained most of our vegetables will have a financial impact during the next  several months as well.

 

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 17, life is crazy and I need to make a plan.

2.Weight Loss– 175#.  Struggling with time for this still. I am starting to get some regular exercise and decided to try a supplement as well. But the scale still is not moving in the direction I want as quickly as I want.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Goal Met.  Working on improving this. I realize that once the summer starts I have to make time to do this no matter what!

Personal goals are a failure this month. Not much more to say in regards to that.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. Fail – Total spending for the month is $879.00. Which is a decrease from last month. I did purchase 120# of chicken this month so hopefully we will be heading to much lower grocery bills for both June and July.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Goal Met! Still have $19 to spare.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

As you can tell we are struggling. I am not sure what the summer holds but I have placed a plan to reduce spending in all categories but at the same time. We are not in a financial crises and we are still enjoying many things in life. I am going to end with the statement that God is in control and his plans are always much better than my plans so I am trusting regardless of what the numbers say.

Growing Garden

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We are super excited about our garden this year. I purchased most of the plants from a local nursery and they all have taken off. We discovered this in our garden yesterday so I posted a picture on facebook to find out what it is and how to use. I do know it is a type of squash but really need to know when to harvest as well.

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Matt grew up with the saying “knee high by the fourth of July”, fortunately for us, our corn is already past knee high at Memorial Day. I inserted the kids for some perspective.

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Next we have peppers, this is a banana pepper.
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We decided after losing all of our pickles and cucumber relish in the freezer a couple of weeks ago to plant some addition plants. I am hoping to have a bumper crop this year. image

I am relieved to see that the sweet potatoes we started our selves from last year’s crop are starting to grow and appear the right color.

imageWe have already started to freeze several batches of basil. I am wondering if I can do the same with dill.

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Squash plants are taking over in this bed.

imageFinally in the past two days our watermelon and cantaloupe have sprang to life.

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Please leave a comment to help me know what the mystery squash plant is and how to use it!

5 Things Friday-5/27/2016

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  1. I am all ready for a yard sale tomorrow. The current plan is to make a stop at the Goodwill on the way home. We(Matt) have spent the week cleaning out the buildings. I pulled the last couple of boxes out of the attic and the front building is empty as well. I have already made $45 on this yard sale, so my goal is $55.
  2. We are going to call this the summer of lean. I want to really contain our spending.
  3. The garden is still growing and we have gotten a couple squash, I am hoping that we will have plenty to eat and freeze this summer.
  4. Zach has agreed to be on the swim team this year! I love going to swim meets!
  5. My first $50 Disney gift card is in cabinet. This is so exciting!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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  • Matt has been working on cleaning out the building and I ordered a new stand up freezer today. I went ahead and purchased the largest one available. It is suppose to be delivered next Thursday which gives us a week before the chicken arrives.  We are also planning on getting some wireless thermostats to use to monitor the temperature in the building and both freezers.
  • I received my first Disney gift card today. I need to earn another $150 not from our budget in order to book our next trip.
  • The kids have 2 and half weeks of school left. Thankfully I was able to take a couple of days off in order to attend most of the special events at the end of the year.
  • We have a swim team meeting on Thursday and Zach is planning to swim. I am so excited!!! I LOVE watching swim team meets!
  • Amanda is hosting a yard sale on Saturday and I am hoping to make $100. I have already made $45 this weekend on furniture. This is a much needed boost in income to help cover summer expenses like swim team.
  • We have now not used heat or air for 6 weeks with only 2 days used in the four weeks before that. Our electric bill was $161 for last month!  This is the lowest it has been in around 18 months!  Huge win!
  • I have started a new diet/ work out program this week so I am hopefully for good results even by the end of the month.
  • We have been able to harvest basil and dill. Yesterday I got a squash that is small but it is a start!

Growing Garden

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I am super excited about the way our garden is growing this year. We have actually already started to harvest and freeze basil and dill. Today, I found four of the smallest squash ever, the size of my hands. I am hoping that with the expected sunshine in the next week, things will start to grow bigger quickly. So here are some pictures I took on Saturday.

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Corn almost knee high!

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cucumbers are starting to grow.

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beans that we planted seeds for.

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Sweet potatoes like warm and sun, hopefully they will start to perk up .

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The tallest plants are the tomato plants… we are seeing some yellow flowers but these also need some sun to grow!

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5 Things Friday- A Day Late

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  1. We decided to go strawberry picking with the kids this morning. The local nursery offered BOGO on pick your own strawberries. We picked 4 gallons of strawberries for $18.  I did share some of these with both my mom and Amanda.
  2. After getting home and trying to decide where to put the strawberries, we discovered that our stand up freezer had stopped working. I was able to save milk and about a fourth of what was in the freezer.
  3. I found 3 gallons of half thawed strawberries so I decided to cook with these instead of the fresh one. I did end up flash freezing at least 2 gallons for future use.
  4. I made strawberry lemonade muffins, strawberry cream cheese coffee cake, and a double batch of strawberry jam. They all turned out awesome but my favorite is the strawberry jam.
  5. We will be having a yard sale hopefully next Saturday so this coming week is incredibly busy.

Gift Cards- Spending Money The Fun Way!

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I had some extra time on my hands as I waited in a doctor’s office today so I decided to clean out my purse.  I was so excited to find a five dollar bill and a Walmart gift card that I had totally forgotten about.  I knew we needed a bag of frozen veggies to go in the chicken pie I was planning for Friday night, so after the appointment I headed to Walmart. I was able to grab 2 bags of frozen vegetables, a bag of Twizzlers for Matt and a pack of Kool-Aid drinks for the kids.  I still have 57 cent left on my gift card.

My other use of gift cards today is a little bit confusing but even more exciting. During the past month I have been using an app called “Swagbucks”  I can be use for shopping but I am using it to watch videos, random and not so random search of the internet and answering survey questions. So far in two months I have gained enough point and cashed in for 2-$25 gift cards to Target.  This afternoon, I decided to place an order at Target. I had already linked by Red Debit card to my account. This gives me 5% off and free shipping. I placed in my cart a $50 Disney card and a box of baking soda. Total cost was $49.43 which I enter both gift cards as payment. I have 53 cent left on one.

Total spent today ZERO and I was able to grab a couple of grocery items we are out of. I call that success!

Savings With Only 2 Coupons

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I apologize upfront because I had ever intention of getting this post up last week but life happens.  I do use coupons as much as possible but it is not just the coupon that makes a great deal. A great deal is sometimes finding the right sale.

This week we were able to find the right sale at Harris Teeter. I will continue to wish that another grocery store moves in our area but until then I will plan and drive 30 minutes each way for sales like this.

Harris Teeter is having a “stock up sale” The one big catch to this sale is that you must Buy 2 and get 3 Free.  This week we spent $170.60 and saved 228.75 which is 57%.  All the items we purchased are things we normally use so this is a good deal for us. I did use 2 $1.00 off coupons for Ken’s Salad dressing. Unfortunately these did not double. I was also able to grab a raincheck for 10 additional packs of cheese which I will use when needed. Things we purchased included 10 12 packs of soda, 6 bottles of Salad Dressing, 7 small containers of yogurt. 10 pounds of potatoes, 5 packs of Provolone cheese, 3 blocks of cheese for Matt and the kids, 10 containers of ice cream, 7 bags of chips and 5 bags of frozen shrimp. As you can tell this was a huge trip but it is likely that this will last us through the summer.